


Respite

by nereidee (aurasama)



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-24 00:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16169783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurasama/pseuds/nereidee
Summary: After escaping Nalbina Balthier finds himself offering a comforting word to Vaan, who appears more shaken by the recent events than he wants to admit. Pre-relationship, implied future Balvaan.





	Respite

Balthier glanced at the blonde Dalmascan. He had become withdrawn as they'd progressed and though he kept up the pretence of bravery, the pirate could tell he was more afraid than he admitted. There was a slight tremor to his hands and he gripped the staff like a lifeline, knuckles whitening, leaning his weight on it for support when his feet faltered from exhaustion.  
  
Fran had turned her back towards them, her posture tense. Very much like a bowstring pulled back, ready to be fired.  
  
“The scent of Mist is growing stronger,” she muttered without turning around. “You all wait here. I shall have a look ahead.”  
  
“Don't go too far on your own,” Balthier replied. The viera nodded and walked slowly down the dimly-lit tracks. The lights flickered feebly, a sure sign that whatever power still remained would not last much longer, and Fran had vanished from sight sooner than he'd blinked twice.  
  
“I suggest we take this moment to rest,” the pirate told the other two.  
  
“Will she be all right on her own, I wonder?” Basch inquired, a worried frown marring his already tired face. A few feet behind him the blonde, Vaan, slumped down on the dirt-strewn floor.  
  
“There's hardly any need for concern, Captain. She won't be gone for long.”  
  
Fran he did not worry about – they had been through enough together for him to know just how sharp her senses were, too sharp for her to let her guard down in places like this – but the other two men were a different story altogether. The Captain had proven capable in combat, but he was weary from malnourishment and captivity, and the thief was not much better. Vaan sat huddled away from them, head bowed between his knees, still clutching his weapon as if it were his only link to sanity.  
  
Basch cast a worried glance the youth's way but said nothing. Balthier could guess what was on his mind; he burned with the need to offer a comforting word, but it could only have aggravated the youth further. The Captain caught the pirate's eye, inclining his head meaningfully.  
  
Vaan started visibly as the pirate came to stand next to him. His eyes were wide, much too wide, as he stared into nothingness. Balthier knelt down.  
  
“Are you all right, Vaan?” He kept his voice low so that only the blonde could hear him.  
  
“Yeah,” Vaan answered hastily, avoiding his eye.  
  
Balthier considered him quietly. This close it was easy to see how young he was; barely old enough to even be called a man. His cheek was bruised and swollen where the seeq had hit him, a trail of dried blood still there as a reminder, and the pirate did not need to ask what would have happened to him had Balthier not been there to intervene.  
  
He took the waterskin from his belt and offered it to the youth. “Here. Have some water,” he said. “I daresay you need it.”  
  
Vaan took it wordlessly. He unstoppered the waterskin and drank slowly. His hands were shaking worse than before and the pirate saw his eyes darting around each time the lights flickered.  
  
“Does it still hurt?” the pirate asked.  
  
“Does what hurt?”  
  
Balthier indicated the bruise on his cheek. “That. Those seeq left a mark.”  
  
“It's nothing,” Vaan mumbled. He handed back the waterskin without looking at the older man. “I've had worse.”  
  
Balthier thought back on the blonde's tantrum back in Nalbina, just after they'd found the Captain. _He spoke of a brother,_ the pirate thought, _that he died because of the Captain._ The smallest twinge of pity welled in his chest as he took in Vaan's frightened face. The boy had seen much death in his young life; it had inevitably left its mark on him. The shock of all he'd witnessed in the recent days could only have made it worse.  
  
Perhaps the boy getting tangled up in this mess hadn't been Balthier's fault but he couldn't quite escape feeling just the slightest bit responsible. He could push the blame on coincidence, Gods or even the capricious Fates all he damn well liked, but he wished he could have spared Vaan what he'd experienced in Nalbina.  
  
_He's too young to live with the burden of such memories,_ Balthier thought. _Even if he puts on a brave face._  
  
Somewhere down the tunnel came the sound of sand and rocks raining down from the ceiling, echoing endlessly in the silence of the mine. Vaan inhaled sharply between clenched teeth, his grip on the rod momentarily tensing, but nothing materialised from the darkness. Balthier placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.  
  
“We'll be out of here sooner than you know it,” he said, tone softer than before. “It cannot be much further now.”  
  
The blonde's eyes flitted from the pirate's face to the hand on his shoulder. “How can you be so sure? The Passage hasn't been used in centuries.”  
  
“Moisture,” Balthier said, indicating the walls. The tiles gleamed in the faint light, and every now and then he could hear the distant sound of water drops falling from the ceiling and hitting a surface somewhere. “The air has gotten considerably more humid as we've progressed. There must be an underground reservoir somewhere in the vicinity.”  
  
“So?”  
  
“Where do you think the water comes from?”  
  
Slowly, the youth's eyes widened, a glimmer of hope returning in them. “The Nebra,” he whispered. Balthier flashed him a crooked smile.  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
He got up, returning the waterskin in its proper place. He saw Vaan's eyes follow his hand as it withdrew from his shoulder and the youth placed his own palm on the spot almost absent-mindedly, as though relishing the warmth that still lingered there. The blonde's expression shifted, a confusing blur of emotion easily readable on his face, and Balthier hoped that it would be enough of an encouragement to carry him through this.  
  
As the pirate turned around he could just make out the words that slipped from Vaan's mouth, so quiet that Balthier couldn't be sure he hadn't just imagined them, and so hesitant that they could only have escaped by accident.  
  
“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> *arrives 12 years late with Starbucks* Hi, this is one of those ships I've been a fan of since the game first came out but somehow never got around to writing about until the Zodiac Age release convinced me otherwise. I'm auraboo on Tumblr so you guys might've seen my art about these two floating around recently.
> 
> Vaan is such a tough cookie but he's seriously been through a lot and I think he must have been pretty shaken emotionally after the events of Nalbina.


End file.
